Behavioural Science Uncovered

Economic Behaviour and Genetic Makeup with Pietro Biroli

In this episode, we talk to Pietro Biroli from the University of Bologna about his paper ”Moral Hazard Heterogeneity: Genes and Health Insurance Influence Smoking after a Health Shock”. In this paper, Pietro and his co-author Laura Zwyssig show that individual behaviour is influenced not only by environmental constraints but also by genetic makeup, which carries implications for the fairness and effectiveness of health policies.

How to Change with Katy Milkman

In this episode, we talk to Katy Milkman from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania about some of the research that led to the production of her recent book, How to Change. Throughout this conversation, Katy shares with us what she has learned from her many years of experience as a behavioural science researcher and where she might go next to tackle the challenge that preoccupies her the most: changing behaviour for good.

Lapse-Based Insurance with Daniel Gottlieb

In this episode we talk to Daniel Gottlieb from LSE about his paper Lapse-Based Insurance . In this paper Daniel studies why customers lapse on their life insurance payments and how this is related to insurance pricing using both a theoretical model and a survey data.

Case-Based Decision Theory and Maxmin EU with Non-Unique Prior with Itzhak Gilboa

In this episode, we talk with Itzhak Gilboa, professor of Economics at the HEC Paris and Tel-Aviv University, and holder of the AXA Chair in Decision Sciences. We will talk about the contrast “expected vs. actual success” of two of his papers. “Case-Based Decision Theory” was expected to be very successful, but turned out not to be. The second paper, “Maxmin Expected Utility with Non-Unique Prior” was not expected to be a big deal, but is now listed as the most cited and the most relevant paper in the Journal of Mathematical Economics. Tune in for a discussion centered around the development of the ideas, the publication process, and to learn about axiomatic decision theory.

Incentivised Elicitation of Private Information with Aurélien Baillon

In this episode we talk to Aurélien Baillon from Erasmus University Rotterdam about his papers Bayesian Markets to Elicit Private Information  and Simple Bets to Elicit Private Signals. In this work Aurélien studies how we can elicit private information about questions for which we cannot verify if the subject responds truthfully, such as her subjective belief about whether she liked a product.

The Dynamics of Discrimination with Aislinn Bohren and Alex Imas

In this episode, we have a power couple joining us. We talk with Aislinn Bohren from the University of Pennsylvania and Alex Imas from the Chicago Booth School of Business about their joint paper “The Dynamics of Discrimination: Theory and Evidence", co-authored with Michael Rosenberg. They conduct a natural field experiment to identify the dynamics of discrimination and its underlying source. The authors post content on a large online platform and exogenously vary the gender and evaluation histories of the associated accounts. When no evaluation history is available, questions posted to female accounts earn less reputation than questions posted to male accounts. However, the direction of discrimination reverses as more reputation is built. When content is posted to advanced accounts, women’s posts are favoured over men’s. Tune in for a discussion centered around the idea, the design, and the logistical implementation of the paper that has won the 2020 Exeter prize.

How Incentives Can Change What We Believe with Sandro Ambuehl

In this episode, which forms part of a series on ethics in behavioural science research, we talk with Sandro Ambuehl from the University of Zürich about his paper “An Offer You Can’t Refuse? Incentives Change How We Inform Ourselves and What We Believe”. To investigate how economic incentives may skew information gathering and beliefs about what a transaction entails, thus affecting the quality of decisions taken by subjects, he presents a model of costly information acquisition in conjunction with behavioural experiments, one of which includes the ingestion of insects in exchange for money. Tune in for a discussion centred around the project’s design, its ethical and logistical considerations, and on the ethics of incentivising subjects in economic experiments more generally.

Awareness Raising Interventions and Meat Consumption with Josh Tasoff

In this episode, we talk to Josh Tasoff from the Claremont Graduate University. We discuss two of his papers that study if awareness raising interventions can cause people to consume less meat.  

 

 

Associative Memory and Belief Formation with Florian Zimmermann

In this episode, we talk to Florian Zimmermann, from the briq Institute on Behavior and Inequality and the University of Bonn about his paper  “Associative Memory and Belief Formation,” co-authored with Benjamin Enke and Frederik Schwerter. The paper experimentally investigates the idea that people are more likely to recollect items that are cued by current … Continue reading Associative Memory and Belief Formation with Florian Zimmermann →

Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride with Robert Metcalfe

In this episode, we talk with Robert Metcalfe from Boston University about his paper “Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride,” which he co-authored with Luigi Butera, William Morrison and Dmitry Taubinsky. To investigate how public recognition can be employed as a vehicle for motivating desirable behaviour, they develop a portable money-metric method to measure … Continue reading Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride with Robert Metcalfe →